Soviet Union Table of Contents
Marked by highly developed pure science and innovation at theoretical level, but interpretation and application fell short. Biology, chemistry, materials science, mathematics, and physics, were fields in which Soviet citizens have excelled. Science emphasized at all levels of educations, and very large number of engineers graduate each year. Shortfall in science and technology can be attributed to centrally planned and controlled economy and to priority given to national security, all of which provided little incentive to design and create prototypes of products for mass market. Without orders from central government, no product design and prototype saw fruition or stimulated innovation of other products. Soviet regimes, in many cases, have chosen to adopt foreign technology rather than to invest money, talent time and to develop Soviet Union's indigenous technological capacity.
Data as of May 1989